NSW warned of blackouts as heatwaves and lashing rains forecast
Source: BoM
Thousands of NSW homes could be without power this week as a looming heatwave and unexpected outages at coal power plants have triggered blackout alerts from the energy market operator.
The warning comes amid a week of wild weather as the Bureau of Meterology on Monday predicted rain and storms for every state and territory.
The Australian Energy Market Operator has issued blackout risk warnings for NSW from Tuesday afternoon, with the biggest energy shortage forecast for Wednesday.
Sydney is expected to feel the peak of this week’s heatwave on Wednesday, with temperatures in the city reaching 33 degrees, rising to as high as 39 for Penrith to the west and prompting a surge in air-conditioner use.
The forecast increase in electricity use comes as at least one generation unit at three of NSW’s four coal-fired power plants is offline for maintenance or repairs.
An AEMO spokeswoman said high temperatures and strong electricity demand, combined with some generation outages, were causing tight electricity supply forecasts in NSW for Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon.
“AEMO is also forecasting tight electricity reserves in Queensland on Wednesday,” the spokeswoman was quoted as saying.
Ahead of Wednesday, AEMO is asking large industrial energy users to switch off in a bid to reduce the risk of blackouts.
The energy market operator is also working with coal plants to restore generation units.
The blackout warning comes in a week of unpredictable weather across Australia.
The weather bureau has issued a heatwave warning for Sydney as well the Hunter, Illawarra, South Coast, and Southern Tablelands regions.
The bureau urged those affected to use fans or air-conditioners if available, or “seek a place to keep cool, such as your home, a library, community centre or shopping centre”.
“Severe heatwaves can be dangerous for many people, especially older people, babies, children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, people with medical conditions and people who are unwell,” it said.
NSW Energy Minister Penny Sharpe said people should look out for each other during the heat spike and the government was keeping an eye out for any energy-supply problems.
“You should drink water, you should check in on neighbours and you should think about whether you need to walk out in the middle of the day in the beating hot sun,” she said.
Drenching rains
As Sydney swelters, heavy rains will build through both the north and south of Australia, with rainfalls exceeding 50 millimetres in parts of Victoria and the Northern Territory on Wednesday.
BoM meteorologist Jonathan How said NSW and Queensland will have a wet reprieve from the heat starting from Thursday, with large parts of the country expected to approach, or even exceed, the average monthly rainfall for November on Friday.
“At the moment, we do have flood warnings current through southern Queensland, but as rainfall totals grow heading into Friday and the weekend we could see further flood watches and warnings being issued,” How said.
While severe thunderstorms and areas of heavy rain are possible in every state and territory this week, the heaviest falls are likely to occur in a broad arc stretching across northern and eastern Australia, according to Weatherzone.
This includes parts of the NT, western Queensland, NSW and possibly Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT.
“Heavy rain and flash flooding will be a heightened risk with severe storms this week due to the abundance of atmospheric moisture that’s available,” it said.
